Muhammad Ali

In 1967, a jury in Houston, Texas, sentenced ‘The Greatest’ to five years in prison and fined him $10,000. The crime? Refusing induction into the military during the Vietnam War. Ali had shot to fame with a gold medal in light-heavyweight boxing at the Rome Olympics in 1960, back when he was still known as Cassius Clay. By 1967, he was the world heavyweight champion — a title that was stripped following his conviction, as was his boxing license. Ali, an outspoken critic of the war, argued he should be classified as a conscientious objector, and appealed his case all the way to the Supreme Court. In 1971, the Court agreed, overturning the conviction. After three idle years, Ali roared back into the ring: he defeated George Foreman in Zaire in 1974’s “Rumble in the Jungle” and Joe Frazier in the “Thrilla in Manila” in 1975. By the time of his retirement in 1981, he was arguably the most iconic figure in the history of boxing — and, even if he did say it himself, the Greatest of All Time.